The goal here is simple – inflict bleeding/necrotic damage and don’t get hit. If we never get hit, we can’t die and our attacks will kill our enemies for us. While Jason does tend to get hit a fair bit, his abilities and items mean that it’s a lot less than it would be (specifically the Amulet of the Dark Guardian and his robes/cloak).
Please keep in mind, I have built this with the intention of it being a solo build so is largely designed to synergise with itself and not much else. It also isn’t necessarily going to be the strongest build in BG3 but I’m reasonably confidant its as strong as a true Jason Asano build can be in the base game. There are some slight incongruencies between the books and this build but rest assured, all changes have been made for a reason and I try my best to explain them!
* aside from titles, I have done my best to add any of Jason’s true traits/items/abilities in bold and DnD/BG3 abilities/items in italics so if you’re looking for anything in particular, hopefully it should be easier to find. – FAIR WARNING: very minor spoilers ahead (abilities at higher levels, etc.)
Level 1
- Half-Elf: Jason isn’t technically human anyway, so this isn’t a huge change and Fey Ancestry + Darkvision fit Jason perfectly. Plus the extra movement from the Wood Half-Elf specifically plays nicely into the ‘attack and disappear’ idea.
- The Dark Urge: Honestly, Haunted One feels like the most fitting back ground for Jason even if the skill proficiencies aren’t quite right, plus Jason does have to battle his inner demons on more than one occasion. We are also taking this origin for access to the Deathstalker Mantle as this is going to be key in our build.
- Hexblade Warlock: Being able to hex our opponents is a must – it’s tough transferring exact effects over from Shirtaloon’s writing but this is definitely a start. The main part of this as far as the roleplaying side of things goes is the regaining of hit points on enemy death (like Blood Harvest!) and the chance to add Hexblade’s Curse when attacking with our bound weapon.
- Skill Proficiencies are up to you, I chose Deception and Investigation as they seemed the most character fitting
- For the Patron, we are of course taking Hexblade – both the fiend and great old one patrons could also work but only in a more circumstantial aspect, I think hexblade truly embodies Jason’s powerset
- Cantrips here are insanely obvious, Bone Chill and Toll the Dead
- Spells are also very clear with Hex and Wrathful Smite – Hex is a given, adding some necrotic damage to our attacks and also debuffing enemies? That’s Jason all over! The smite may initially seem odd but, although it might not be the strongest part of the build, it definitely fits thematically with Jason’s ‘Giant Slayer‘ title.
- Stats: This can be played around with to a certain extent but I’ve generally specced him as he would be strongest in relation to the classes I’ve chosen, while trying to stay true to his character:
- Strength – 10 (because no one likes a weakling)
- Dexterity – 14 [13 + 1] (our abilities are going to take a second to get going, so a high initiative is a must, we want to be going first in every combat!)
- Constitution – 14 (can’t be too squishy, Jason can take a fair few hits when he needs to)
- Intelligence – 12 (those wizard spells need SOMETHING to go off of)
- Wisdom – 8 (we don’t really need wisdom for anything major in this build and let’s be honest, Jason definitely is not wise…)
- Charisma – 17 [15 + 2] (high charisma is a MUST, we rely on it for Warlock and Sorcerer spellcasting, plus, binding our weapon allows us to add our CHA modifier to weapon attacks! Oh, and Jason is a pretty smooth talker)
Levels 2 – 5
- Warlock:
- Eldritch Invocations:
- One With Shadows – While we can’t use Jason’s usual combat abilities like Path of Shadows or hop between shade bodies, being able to go invisible is probably the next best thing, especially when we combine it with Misty Step later on!
- Devil’s Sight – This one is just obvious, it’s pretty much his Midnight Eyes ability anyway!
- Spell:
- Shield – Seems odd at first but is actually a very close match to what his Amulet of the Dark Guardian does, plus, think of those shields he can conjure from Gordon‘s eyes!
- Warlock:
- Pact Boon:
- Pact of the Chain – This is where we get our first familiar! (Who would Jason be without his boys?) Pact of the chain allows us to summon a Quasit or Imp, in this case we’re going to summoning the imp to act as a pseudo-Colin. Yes, Colin doesn’t fly, but imps have the Sting attack which allows them to do an extra d6 of poison damage on a fail CON save. While it’s not perfect, I think it works pretty well as a Colin substitute.
- Spell:
- Blur – This one is pretty obvious to me, given how Jason’s Cloak of Night is able to protect him at higher levels by ‘bending space’ to avoid him getting him.
- Warlock:
- Cantrip:
- Poison Spray: This doesn’t really fit the build but it seemed the most relevant from the list of cantrips we have left given it’s damage type. I’ll be making a custom hot bar in-game for this build though and I don’t anticipate this being on it.
- Spell:
- Darkness: This one is a double-whammy. Firstly, it fits pretty well with Jason’s Midnight Eyes ability once it hits Gold and it also helps with the idea of ‘shadow jumping’, PLUS, with devil’s sight, we are really going to enjoy being inside an area of darkness.
- Feat:
- Magic Initiate: Cleric: Honestly, feats in this build are kind of up to you but I would strongly recommend this one from the roleplaying side of things for the cantrips and spell we can pick up here:
- Cantrips: Sacred Flame & Resistance – Sacred Flame seems odd but it’s mainly here to use against enemies which are resistant to necrotic damage and/or weak to radiant, like the Undeath in He Who Fights With Monsters, as Jason does gain Ghost Fire which only affects the Undeath. Resistance is just exactly what it sounds like, Jason is resistant to a majority of in-universe afflictions so this fits the bill perfectly!
- Spell: Touch of Death – This is going to serve as a replacement for Jason’s finisher, Verdict, while we don’t really have a substitute for transcendent damage, this is a burst of damage (necrotic, so still fits the build) which will be our ‘finisher’.
- Warlock:
- Eldritch Invocation:
- Fiendish Vigour – While we do already have a ‘life drain’ style ability from our bound Hex Weapon this is more akin to Jason’s Feast of Blood, while it doesn’t drain from our enemies, it does allow us to regain some hit points without relying on kills and avoiding having any true healing powers.
- Spell:
- Misty Step – This one’s obvious, right?
- We also gain an extra attack at this level, and so does our familiar!
As this is designed as a solo run through, I would suggest waiting until at least level 5 to try and tackle Auntie Ethel, when you do, be sure to spare her and get her hair for a Charisma boost!
It is also around this time that I would expect you to have progressed into the Underdark – make sure to go find the Kuo-Toa cove and get the BOOOAL’s Benediction buff (this is permanent, even in death) as it gives us advantage when attacking bleeding targets.
Another buff you can also look at grabbing at this level (or maybe level 6) is Awakened, from resisting the Zaith’isk in the Creche Y’llek. This gives the ability to use Illithid powers as a bonus action which, given Jason’s aura powers, will come in very useful.
Also, if you haven’t done so by this point I would strongly suggest you head to the Goblin Camp and let Abdirak torture you, this gives us another nice buff which gives us +2 to Attack Rolls and Wisdom saves while under 30% health. I like to think of this a bit like a Battle Trance when (and I’m quoting directly from Rufus here) “you have to reach a position where you don’t have anything more to give, then be in a position to give more anyway”.
Level 6:
- Sorcerer:
- Subclass: Shadow Magic – this gives us the really cool feature, Strength of the Grave, allowing to take a ‘killing blow’ and only drop to 1 HP once per long rest, which sort of substitutes for Jason’s seeming inability to die. It also gives us Eyes of the Dark but this doesn’t give us anything we don’t already have.
- Cantrips: Only 2 of these are relevant really, so for the other 2 we double up on already known cantrips to fill up the 4 slots we have available.
- Friends – Jason is a smooth talker and seemingly makes friends wherever he goes, this fits that perfectly!
- Dancing Lights – His Cloak of Night has the ability to let the stars on it detach and float around him, again, a perfect fit for this cantrip
- Bone Chill & Poison Spray – We can ‘waste’ cantrip slots by taking the same cantrips again as none of the other cantrips really fit our build (this can only be done when on a separate class however, hence why we were forced to take poison spray on Warlock earlier)
- Spells:
- Feather Fall & Expeditious Retreat – Neither of these are particularly relevant, just some nice added utility for the build keeping in line with Jason’s abilities.
Levels 7 – 9
- Wizard:
- Cantrips:
- Bone Chill, Dancing Lights & Toll the Dead – ‘Wasting’ cantrip slots again as there aren’t any left that really fit the character
- Spells:
- Longstrider – Enhanced movement can’t hurt when we’re trying to evade our cursed, poisoned and bleeding enemies.
- Ray of Sickness – This one isn’t strictly a Jason spell (more of an affliction specialist ability than that of an affliction skirmisher) but let’s face it, there’s only so many ways to apply poison in this game and that damage is a pretty big part of his powerset.
- Enchance Leap, Expeditious Retreat, Find Familiar & Shield – we also select these as we get 6 level 1 spells but won’t be preparing as we already have all of these from other sources.
- Wizard:
- School:
- Necromancy – More life force leaching, like Jason’s Blood Harvest spell. The school of necromancy wizard allows us to regain hit points on when we kill an enemy with a spell. It’s only HP = twice the lvl of spell slot used (thrice if it’s a necromancy spell) but it’s life drain and I’m here for it!
- Spells:
- Feather Fall & False Life – more slot wasting! I know this seems very wasteful, but I’m trying to stick as close to the character as possible so there’s no point taking extra spells we won’t use! Plus, we only get to prepare 4 spells by the time we hit our last wizard level and 2 of them haven’t even appeared yet.
- Wizard:
- Spells:
- Phantasmal Force – While this spell initially does psychic damage, it changes to be the most recent type of damage received every time it takes effect and so will amplify our poison/necrotic damage we’re going to be dealing with our weapons, kind of like Jason’s Inexorable Doom spell 🙂
- See Invisibility – Not much of an explanation for this one really except; Jason got strong Aura senses.
- This is our last Wizard level and going forward you should prepare:
- Longstrider, Ray of Sickness, Phantasmal Force & See Invisibility
Around this point, we will probably be entering the Illithid Colony, allowing us to grab our 2nd familiar, US! He is going to act as a Pseudo-Gordon for this build and will bring us one step closer to completing our one man team.
After the Myrkul fight, next up is our dear old friend The Emperor. In this run through we’re going accept the Astral-Touched Tadpole, this will give us access to fly which Jason can do via his Cloak of Night and will also open up some more Illithid powers for us to use as our substitute for Aura powers.
Going forward from this, we will also be pretty quickly picking up our final perma-buff Sweet Stone Features. This is gathered by going to the circus in Rivington and paying Boney to craft a statue of us, this will essentially give us the Bless effect each long rest. It’s quite expensive and not necessary to the character though, more just to allow us to ensure we hit in combat and inflict our bleeding/poison/necrotic damage.
Levels 10 -12
- Warlock:
- Spell:
- Vampiric Touch – Now we get to the REAL life stealing spell. This is pretty much just Jason’s Feast of Blood spell, allowing us to drain HP from targets without the need to kill them first.
- Subclass Feature:
- Accursed Spectre – This will finally complete our team of familiars. Accursed spectre allows us to raise a ‘spectre’ to fight by our side from the soul of a fallen enemy, this will be our Pseudo-Shade. Jason and his boys, reunited at last.
- Warlock:
- Eldritch Invocation:
- Sign of Ill Omen – This allows us to curse our enemies. While it’s not directly tied to any of Jason’s abilities, it definitely fits the build. ‘Cursing’ in BG3 can have all kinds ill effects like losing your actions, disadvantage on attack rolls and so forth – sounds like the sort of repercussions somewhat would face while stacked with afflictions to me…
- Spell:
- Blink – Essentially another way to turn invisible if none of the other options we have are available to us, while Jason doesn’t have the inherent ability to turn invisible, there’s only so many ways we can simulate shadowing jumping in BG3.
- Warlock:
- Spell:
- Blight – Essentially an upgrade to Inflict Wounds, our replacement for Jason’s Verdict finisher. As we don’t have the ability to upcast particularly high due to only unlocking level 2 spell slots, being able to cast blight through a warlock spell slot gives us a much more viable finisher for stronger targets.
- Feat:
- Ability Improvement – a +2 to Charisma! This will allow us to do even more damage with our weapons and will increase the chance to hit for our warlock and sorcerer spells! Not necessarily directly related to the roleplaying side of this build but a nice top off for our damage output.
And that’s it! The full levelling guide for your very own self-impressed, arrogant Australian adventurer! While aura senses don’t exist in Baldur’s Gate, I will be using illithid powers as a stand in so see below for the list of powers I would recommend. Some of these will be build relevant, others just to make us a bit stronger, they aren’t in any particular order so just choose them however you see fit. I will also include an Act-by-Act gear list alongside the build assigned gear as that will be endgame stuff! Keep an eye out for pieces of gear where I’ve highlighted their rarity, this is important to get the correct items. Enjoy Cobber!
Illithid Powers
Illithid Persuasion
Favourable Beginnings
Concentrated Blast
Stage Fright
Luck of the Far Realms
Cull the Weak
Shield of Thralls
Perilous Stakes
ACT 1 Gear
Shadespell Circlet
Death Stalker Mantle
Dark Justiciar Mail
Gloves of Baneful Striking
Boots of Stormy Clamour (then Disintegrating Night Walkers)
Rupturing Blade + Hunter’s Dagger (then Knife of the Undermountain King)
Bow of Awareness
Periapt of Wound Closure
Crusher’s Ring
Caustic Band
ACT 2 Gear
Shadespell Circlet
Death Stalker Mantle
Dark Justiciar Half-Plate (Very Rare)
Dark Justiciar Gauntlets (Rare)
Disintegrating Night Walkers
Slicing Shortsword + Knife of the Undermountain King
Bow of Awareness
Periapt of Wound Closure
Killer’s Sweetheart
Caustic Band
ACT 3 Gear
Helldusk Helmet
Death Stalker Mantle
Bhaalist Armour
Dark Justiciar Gauntlets (Rare)
Disintegrating Night Walkers
Crimson Mischief + Rhapsody
OR
Duellist’s Prerogative (if you don’t want to dual wield)
Hellrider Longbow
Amulet of Bhaal
Killer’s Sweetheart
Ring of Regeneration
